WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday officially launched its “Trump Gold Card” visa program to allow non-US citizens to quickly obtain permission to live in the United States, at a steep price.
The Trumpcard.gov website, with an “apply now” button, allows interested applicants to pay a $15,000 fee to the Department of Homeland Security for expedited processing.
After going through a background check or vetting process, applicants must then make a “contribution” – the website also calls it a “gift” – of $1 million to obtain the visa, similar to a “green card,” that allows them to live and work in the United States.
“Basically, it’s a green card, but much better. Much more powerful, much stronger path,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “A path is a big deal. We have to be great people.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said some 10,000 people had already signed up for the Gold card during a pre-enrollment period and he expected many more to do so. “I would expect that over time we would sell, you know, thousands of these cards and raise, you know, billions, billions of dollars,” Lutnick told Reuters in a brief interview.
Lutnick said the gold card program would attract people to the United States, which would benefit the economy. He compared that to “average” green card holders, who he said made less money than the average American and were more likely to be on public assistance or have family members on public assistance. He did not provide proof of this assertion.
The Trump administration has waged a sweeping immigration crackdown, deporting hundreds of thousands of people who were in the country illegally and also taking steps to discourage legal immigration.
The gold card program is Trump’s version of a counterbalance to that, designed to bring money into the U.S. Treasury in the same way the president, a former New York businessman and reality TV host, said his tariff program was successful.
Lutnick noted that there was also a corporate version of the Gold Card that allowed companies to obtain expedited visas for employees they wanted to work in the United States, for a contribution of $2 million per employee.
